Toandeaf - Slashdot User

Submission + - SPAM: NASA, DoD agree: earth's weather pattern changed

Submitted by

destinyland

on Saturday June 21, 2008 @03:35PM

destinyland writes: ""If you think the weather is getting more extreme, you're right," the AP reports, citing a new report from 10 government organizations which included NASA, the Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation. It's not getting as cold at night as it did in earlier decades, there are fewer nights with frosts, and there's more extreme rain and heat, with an increasing frequency of tropical storms (leading to more and stronger hurricanes). Yesterday it was 116 in Palm Springs, while the heavy rainfall in Iowa used to happen just once every 500 years (and now happen every 15). And "Droughts will get dryer, storms will get stormier and floods will get deeper with the changing climate," reads another AP report. "Events that have seemed relatively rare will become commonplace, said the latest report...a joint effort of more than a dozen government agencies.""
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Why Women Quit Tech Careers (computerworld.com)

Submitted by

CWmike

on Monday June 16, 2008 @11:37AM

CWmike writes: "What if half the men in science, engineering and technology roles dropped out at midcareer? That would surely be perceived as a national crisis. Yet more than half the women in those fields leave — most of them during their mid- to late 30s. Computerworld interviews one of the reseachers involved with the Athena Factor, a project examining the career trajectories of such women, featured in the Harvard Business Review. One tidbit on why: '...Machismo that continues to permeate these work environments. We found that 63% of women in science, engineering and technology have experienced sexual harassment. That's a really high figure.'"

Submission + - SPAM: Professor designs plasma-propelled flying saucer

Submitted by

FiReaNGeL

on Thursday June 12, 2008 @06:32PM

FiReaNGeL writes: "Flying saucers may soon be more fact than mere science fiction. University of Florida professor Subrata Roy has submitted a patent application for a circular, spinning aircraft design reminiscent of the spaceships seen in countless Hollywood films. Roy, however, calls his design a "wingless electromagnetic air vehicle," or WEAV. Though the design is promising on paper, towering obstacles stand between the blueprint and liftoff. The propulsion system for Roy's saucer sprouts from his extensive U.S. Air Force-funded plasma actuator research, the results of which have appeared in more than 15 scholarly journals. The production of the aircraft will be a joint project of UF's mechanical and aerospace engineering department and its electrical and computer engineering department."
Link to Original Source

Submission + - How to teach a healthy dose of skepticism? 1

Submitted by

c0d3h4x0r

on Thursday June 12, 2008 @05:21PM

c0d3h4x0r writes: "It's no accident that "whatcouldpossiblygowrong" is one of the most common tags applied by Slashdotters to stories about proposed ideas or laws; the ability to spot and predict faults is a big part of what makes a great engineer. It starts with having a healthy skepticism about the world, which leads to actual critical thinking. Many books and courses teach critical thinking skills, but what is the best way to encourage and teach someone to maintain a healthy dose of skepticism? Is it even teachable, or is it just an innate part of the geek personality?"

Submission + - SPAM: 245 million-year-old burrows of land vertebrates

Submitted by

FiReaNGeL

on Saturday June 07, 2008 @11:01PM

FiReaNGeL writes: "For the first time paleontologists have found fossilized burrows of tetrapods (any land vertebrates with four legs or leglike appendages) in Antarctica dating from the Early Triassic epoch, about 245 million years ago. No animal remains were found inside the burrow casts, but the hardened sediment in each burrow preserved a track made as the animals entered and exited. In addition, scratch marks from the animals' initial excavation were apparent in some places, said Christian Sidor, a University of Washington assistant professor of biology and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture at the UW."
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Illegal to even REPORT Child Pornography? (kennesaw.edu) 1

Submitted by

thbarnes

on Saturday April 26, 2008 @06:10PM

thbarnes writes: "I reported suspected Internet child pornography to the FBI and received the attached threatening voicemail from an FBI agent in Washington, DC at 12:30AM. Apparently, it is illegal to even accidentally encounter and report child pornography."

Submission + - JFK And LAX Get Scanners That See Through Clothes

Submitted by

Narrative Fallacy

on Sunday April 20, 2008 @08:14PM

Narrative Fallacy writes: "The Transportation Security Administration has announced that it's beginning new pilot tests of millimeter wave scanning technology at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) that allow TSA personnel to see concealed weapons and other items that may be hidden beneath clothes. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley says that that the potentially revealing body scans (youtube) would not be stored and that 90% of passengers subject to secondary screening opt for a millimeter wave scan over a pat down. The agency added that security officers viewing the scans would do so remotely, where they will not be able to recognize passengers but will be able to trigger an alarm if needed. The agency also said that a blurring algorithm is applied to passengers' faces in scanned images as an additional privacy protection."

Submission + - Mysterious Sound Waves Can Destroy Rockets

Submitted by

Ponca City, We love you

on Thursday April 10, 2008 @04:09PM

Ponca City, We love you writes: "Scientists believe that powerful and unstable sound waves, created by energy supplied by the combustion process, were the cause of rocket failures in several US and Russian rockets and have also observed these mysterious oscillations in other propulsion and power-generating systems such as missiles and gas turbines. Now, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a liquid rocket engine simulator and imaging techniques to help demystify the cause of these explosive sound waves and bring scientists a little closer to being able to understand and prevent them. The team was able to clearly demonstrate that the phenomenon manifests itself in the form of spinning acoustic waves that gain destructive power as they rotate around the rocket's combustion chamber at a rate of 5,000 revolutions per second. Researchers developed a low-pressure combustor to simulate larger rocket engines then used a very-high-speed camera with fiber optic probes to observe the formation and behavior of excited spinning sound waves within the engine. "This is a very troublesome phenomenon in rockets," said Professor Ben Zinn. "These spinning acoustic oscillations destroy engines without anyone fully understanding how these waves are formed. Visualizing this phenomenon brings us a step closer to understanding it.""

Submission + - Red scientology tomato rotting in Firehose? (slashdot.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 08, 2008 @04:56PM

An anonymous reader writes: A posting to the Slashdot Firehose related to a Wikinews story on Wikileaks and legal threats from Scientology, seems to be stuck in the Slashdot firehose red as a ripe tomato for more than 24 hours.
The story that covers a recent press release on Wikileaks relating to copyright claims made by the Church's legal representatives towards the published "Operating Thetan" cult manual, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in scam money, already spawned a hot discussion on the Wikinews portal. With critics of cult-critics trying to shut the story down for hours, it finally went online. And now seems stuck in the Firehose. One can only hope not for the wrong reasons.

Submission + - SPAM: Get a big buzz from royal jelly and become a Queen

Submitted by

WirePosted

on Saturday March 15, 2008 @11:11AM

WirePosted writes: "The fact that royal jelly is the magic ingredient honeybee larvae need to become queens instead of workers is well known, but new ANU research finally sheds light on the reasons why."
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: Encryption Could Make You More Vulnerable

Submitted by

narramissic

on Monday February 11, 2008 @12:43PM

narramissic writes: "It sounds like a headline straight out of The Onion , but security researchers from IBM Internet Security Systems, Juniper, nCipher and elsewhere are warning that the use of data encryption could make organizations vulnerable to new risks and threats. There is potential for 'A new class of DoS attack,' says Richard Moulds, nCipher's product strategy EVP. 'If you can go in and revoke a key and then demand a ransom, it's a fantastic way of attacking a business.'"
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Congress considers bill to make radio "pay to (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by

devjj

on Thursday December 20, 2007 @12:38AM

devjj writes: "Ars Technica is reporting that Congress is considering two bills that will remove the exemption terrestrial radio broadcasters currently enjoy that allows them to broadcast music without compensating the artists or labels for it. Songwriters are paid, but that is it. The National Association of Broadcasters is furious at the RIAA, a vocal supporter of repealing the exemptions, and has responded by agreeing that artists need better compensation. As a result, it is pointing its collective finger at the labels, asking Congress to investigate modern recording contracts.

What do you think? With the NAB up against the RIAA, what do consumers stand to gain or lose?"

Submission + - A Master's Degree in Intelligent Design (chron.com)

Submitted by

ParanoidDrunkard

on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @11:24PM

ParanoidDrunkard writes: "The Dallas-based Institute for Creation Research is seeking state approval to grant an online master's degree in science education to prepare teachers to "understand the universe within the integrating framework of Biblical creationism," according to the school's mission statement. Last week, an advisory council made up of university educators voted to recommend the program for approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, sparking an outcry among science advocates who have fended off attempts by religious groups to insert creationism into Texas classrooms. But students and faculty must profess faith in a literal translation of Biblical creation — that God created the world in six days and made humans and animals in their current life forms; that the Earth is only thousands of years old; and the fossil record is the result of a global flood described in the Bible, according to the Web site. Is this another attempt to validate intelligent design as a science?"

Submission + - New York judge grabs all Brooklyn RIAA cases

Submitted by

newtley

on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @06:15PM

newtley writes: ""I wonder how many of the defendants think the settlements were 'equitable'?" That's Recording Industry vs The People on news that a New York judge has decided only he and another judge should preside over Brooklyn cases. Judge J. Trager, "has denied the motions by the defendants in two Brooklyn cases, Maverick v Chowdhury and Elektra v Torres, for random judicial assignment of RIAA cases," it says. Trager holds, "the cases should all continue to be assigned just to himself and Magistrate Judge Levy". In this decision denying the defendants' motion, "Judge Trager said that (a) many of the defendants have retained the same attorneys, (b) there have been approximately 350 RIAA cases in the Eastern District of New York, and (c) Magistrate Levy has brought about 'equitable settlements'," says RIvTP's Ray Beckerman."

Submission + - Time Names Vladimir Putin Person of the Year 2007 (techluver.com)

Submitted by

Tech.Luver

on Wednesday December 19, 2007 @11:52AM

Tech.Luver writes: "In a year when Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize and green became the new red, white and blue; when the combat in Iraq showed signs of cooling but Baghdad's politicians showed no signs of statesmanship; when China, the rising superpower, juggled its pride in hosting next summer's Olympic Games with its embarrassment at shipping toxic toys around the world; and when J.K. Rowling set millions of minds and hearts on fire with the final volume of her 17-year saga — one nation that had fallen off our mental map, led by one steely and determined man, emerged as a critical linchpin of the 21st century. Says Time Magazine, about its Person of the Year 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin. ( http://techluver.com/2007/12/19/time-names-russian-president-vladimir-putin-person-of-the-year/ )"

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